Olympic great begins training Stags’ players

24 June 2014

Six of our first team players are being trained by illustrious Olympic athlete Michael Johnson this week, the club are delighted to reveal.

Frontmen Matt Rhead, Ollie Palmer, Alex Fisher, along with Ryan Tafazolli, Liam Marsden and Jack Thomas are being coached by the world record breaker this week in an attempt to improve their speed, technique and power.

It is the perfect warm-up for the players before they link up with the rest of the squad for the start of pre-season at One Call Stadium next Monday.

During his 11-year career, Michael Johnson established a record of 13 Olympic and World Championship medals, all of them gold.

He broke world records in the 200 meters, 400 meters and 4 x 400-meter relay. He became known as the “Fastest Man in the World” in 1996, when completing the historic 200/400- meter Olympic double. He recorded the fastest time ever clocked by a human, running 23 mph en route to his 200-meter world record performance of 19.32 seconds. Michael added the 400-meter world record in 1999, clocking 43.18 seconds.

“This training camp, put on by Michael Johnson, will include coaching in areas such as fitness, power and speed. It’s a massive positive for us," said Stags' boss Paul Cox.

“In terms of speed, if you can’t learn from Michael Johnson, then who can you learn from?” added Cox.

The Stags' involvement in the week-long training programme, taking place at St George’s Park in Burton, came about through the contacts of our physio Chris Bowman.